End the unfairness of official bilingualism. Stop wasting our tax dollars.

Sunday March 1, 2015

Duality In New Brunswick

All of Canada should know what's going on in New Brunswick - where “Official Bilingualism” has been turned into "Duality" which wants French-only institutions because in bilingual institutions, the dreaded English language is given some recognition!! Bilingual service has been proven to give advantage to the French-speakers (priority in jobs & service) but even that is not enough to satisfy the extremists who want it all - French dominance where English is recognized and French dominance where only French is allowed. Classic case of - having your cake and eating it too!!!

This should make the Westerners sit up and scream as this near-bankrupt province is only able to do this because Western tax-payers are forced to hand over tax dollars to support them. The situation in N.B. may not be as bad as in Quebec which gets more than half of the Equalization Payments handed out by the Federal government but it’s still bad enough!!! Please note that most of the "have-not" provinces are the ones where the French are the noise-makers, demanding that their language & culture are supported no matter whether the province can afford it or not (I'm referring to Quebec, Ontario, N.B. & Manitoba with PEI next on the French radar).

Duality is one of the latest burdens that the French are forcing on N.B. What they demand is a French-only hospital system (Vitalite) plus a bilingual hospital system (Horizon Health). So they have their French-only hospital and then they demand a mandated bilingual system (which gives the French a built-in advantage for jobs & service).

Schools are the same. The French schools do not allow English to be spoken from the time the child is picked up in a French-only bus until they are transported back to their home at the end of the day. If one is overheard speaking English during the school day the offender will be disciplined.

The French demands have pretty well ruined the RCMP, the Canadian Military in the province of N.B., the Supreme Court of Canada and anything else they touch.

Woodside set Twitter on fire Thursday night after tweeting: “Bilingualism I understand, duality makes no sense. This should be on the table Mr Premier as we look to save money. You asked.”

The tweet was shared more than 120 times, sparking a lengthy chain of replies.

The association issued a statement Friday, calling upon Woodside to retract his comments.

Richibucto Mayor and association president Roger Doiron said it’s hardly conceivable that Woodside wants to reopen a language rights debate.

“I was at the time surprised and shocked when I learned about the content of the Mayor Woodside (Tweet). This is both unacceptable and irresponsible on his part,” said Doiron in a news release from the association.

“As (Woodside is) president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which is an organization representative of bilingual French and English municipalities across the country, it has the moral duty to defend the language rights of both official language communities,” Doiron said.

“We ask him to make amends and to retract,” he said in the news release.

He also called upon the federal municipalities group to disavow Woodside if he fails to reaffirm support for language rights.

“It is irresponsible for Mayor Woodside to throw oil on the fire and make comments only serve to identify a scapegoat. Such amalgams, serve to feed the speech of a tiny minority of the population of this province who does not want recognize our rights as Acadian and francophone communities,” said the association president.

Doiron said his association represents 53 francophone and bilingual municipalities in New Brunswick with a population base of 280,000.

Dieppe Mayor Yvon Lapierre suggested a boycott of the national conference of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, scheduled for June 5 and 6 in Edmonton, because of Woodside’s comments.

“I’m certainly cancelling my ticket,” he said, adding he would encourage other mayors to do the same.

“I know it does not reflect the views of the FCM, but when you have the president making those statements - he’s been travelling the world, literally, as a representative of the FCM and he’s the mayor of the capital of the only officially bilingual province.”

Of Woodside, Lapierre said, “I think he forgets how many hats he’s wearing.”

“I’m sorry my friend Brad is going to be upset with me, but I’m very upset with him right now,” Lapierre said.

But Woodside said he didn’t issue the tweet to spark a debate about bilingualism in New Brunswick.

Instead, he said, he wants a calm discussion about the cost and need for duality in government departments and in public services.

Among the first to reply was Edmundston Mayor Cyrille Simard.

“Dear colleague. You really want to put duality in education on the table?” he tweeted, prompting Woodside to reply with: “Education and health Mr Mayor.”

But Simard could not be reached Friday by The Daily Gleaner for further comment.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognizes the uniquely bilingual nature of New Brunswick by singling out the province in a number of articles connected to guarantees of bilingualism.

It is 16.1(1) that declares, “The English linguistic community and the French linguistic community in New Brunswick have equality of status and equal rights and privileges, including the right to distinct educational institutions and such distinct cultural institutions as are necessary for the preservation and promotion of those communities.”

Duality of health care isn’t explicitly called for in the Charter, unless you count hospitals as cultural institutions, another section, 16 (3), says, “Nothing in this Charter limits the authority of Parliament or a legislature to advance the equality of status or use of English and French.”

While New Brunswick’s two health authorities are divided on linguistic lines, there is an expectation of service in both official languages at any provincial health facility.

Woodside said Friday in an exclusive interview with The Daily Gleaner that he didn’t want to continue the discussion because he doesn’t want to continue to fan the flames.

“It’s really a lightning rod and whenever you talk about language, it brings out the best and the worst in people,” the capital city mayor said.

Woodside said he only raised the duality issue because of Premier Brian Gallant’s public call for citizen engagement in advising the province on how to reduce the deficit and bring down the cost of public spending.

“There’s a lot of things that have been in place for a long, long time and we are in over our heads in debt, and we have a provincial government that has asked the public for ideas and suggestions,” Woodside said.

“My idea is take a look at it. Justify if it’s necessary or possibly could save money. I’ve made it abundantly clear I don’t have a problem with bilingualism.

“Why can’t the province address the issue and explain to the people of New Brunswick why it’s necessary and why the cost is necessary. I think the vast number of New Brunswickers don’t understand it and don’t support it and it does require dialogue. There’s nothing wrong with dialogue.”

Woodside said the tweet “certainly has been taken out of context and used for other purposes.”

“I’m surprised how some people have interpreted the response, but once again that’s social media,” he said.

“There’s people coming out on both sides of this issue in a pretty mean way. It wasn’t my intention to get down into the dirt.

This isn’t meant to offend or cause problems with the bilingual nature of our province.

“This has to do with government departments and the duality of those. Nobody wants to talk about it because it’s contentious. Dialogue is probably the best way to solve the problem.”

The Fredericton mayor said he chatted with the mayor of Edmundston.

“I’m only suggesting ways that the province might save some money and this is one of them,” Woodside said.

“Given the constitutional nature of the comments in question, the commissioner believes that it is more appropriate for government and our provincially elected officials to clearly reaffirm the constitutional right of both linguistic communities in New Brunswick to have distinct educational institutions and such distinct cultural institutions as are necessary for their preservation and promotion,” said Hugest Beaulieu, the director of public affairs and research at the Office of the Commission of Official Languages for New Brunswick.

When it comes to the public purse, given the province’s fiscal outlook, nothing should be exempt from a review, Woodside said.

“When they’re discussing these matters and the public brings these matters forward, there should be a reasonable explanation from (the provincial) government.”

“Take out the emotion. Take out the issue of bilingualism and talk about duality and inform the public. That’s all. It’s not a debate between me and people. It’s not my program. It’s a discussion the province should have for the people of New Brunswick,’’ said the Fredericton mayor.

(With files from Moncton Times and Transcript reporter Brent Mazerolle).